Further blow for Balmain Leagues Club

The Balmain Leagues Club redevelopment was dealt a potentially fatal blow on Wednesday when the NSW government's Planning and Infrastructure Department rejected the existing plan because of traffic concerns.

A furious Ian Wright, the director of the proposed Rozelle Village on Victoria Road, said the proposed high-rise retail and residential development – which was also to include a club for the Tigers' rugby league teams and fans – would never go ahead unless the O'Farrell government decided to support the project.

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Adding to the club's potential peril, Planning & Infrastructure announced its decision based on a "comprehensive assessment process" that indicated unresolved traffic and transport problems identified by Roads and Maritime Services and Transport for NSW, which prevented the project being approved in its current form.

Those impacts included:

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Increased queuing and severe congestion on the road network surrounding the site, including on Victoria Road and Darling Street

Significant delays to bus services in Rozelle

No safe or convenient access from the Balmain Tigers site onto Victoria Road.

These impacts had been confirmed by an independent traffic expert engaged by Planning and Infrastructure.

Its recommendation has been sent to the independent Planning Assessment Commission, which will now make a final determination on the project.

Rozelle Village Pty Limited had been seeking to build towers, at 24 and 20 storeys, with a gross floor area of 36,587 sq m. A new Balmain Leagues Club would have occupied 2567 sq m.

The cash-strapped club had sold the site to Rozelle Village, which in turn took on its debts of $23.5 million. It would guarantee a space for the club in the new building, which it would lease not own.

But the club also borrowed millions from Rozelle Village to keep operating, with temporary club houses in Five Dock and Flemington Markets. It now admits it cannot repay those debts.

In the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Justice Paul Brereton extended an injunction – until 5pm on Wednesday – which restrains the developer from appointing a receiver or voluntary administrator to the club. The judge said receivership would be "a corporate death sentence" for the club.

Mr Wright said Planning had asked Rozelle Village on March 6 to respond to the traffic concerns. He said he was about to send that response on Wednesday when Fairfax Media informed him of the decision to reject the current proposal.

"This is what they call process," Mr Wright said.

He said Rozelle Village's expert advice had dealt with concerns raised about access to Victoria Road, pedestrian access, loading docks and the need to remove parking in nearby Wellington Street for "a few hours a day" in the pm peak period.

Mr Wright hopes the Planning and Assessment Commission and the O'Farrell government may support the project, and that the club, too, may have a future at the site. But he said: "I have lost confidence in the process."

Leichhardt Mayor Darcy Byrne said: "If the court will grant us some time, it is still possible to save the Balmain Leagues Club, and for a sensible redevelopment of the Tigers site to be approved.

"The attempt by the Developers to have the Tigers put into receivership immediately must be rejected. The disappearance of Balmain Tigers would be a disaster for Rugby League and our local community."